AMD has quietly launched a Radeon RX 580 GPU with a reduced number of stream processors. The new product is called the Radeon RX 580 2048SP and, as the name suggests, it has 2048 stream processors, down from 2304 SPs on the original product. The Radeon RX 580 2048SP is currently available only in China and it is unclear whether the product will be sold in other countries as well.

The Radeon RX 580 2048SP is basically the Radeon RX 570, but with a slightly higher boost clock and a different name. Compute performance of the Radeon RX 580 2048SP is listed as 5.1 TFLOPS, which is around 18% lower when compared to the Radeon RX 580. Just like the RX 570, the RX 580 2048SP cards come equipped with 8 GB of GDDR5 memory running at 7 Gbps, down from 8 Gbps on the original RX 580. Given how close specs of the RX 580 2048SP and the RX 570 are, it is unclear why AMD decided to release this “new” product with the RX 580 name, if only to confuse customers.

AMD Radeon RX 580 Specification Comparison

AMD Radeon RX 580

AMD Radeon RX 580 2048SP

AMD Radeon RX 570

Compute Units

36 CUs
2304 SPs

32 CUs
2048 SPs

32 CUs
2048 SPs

Texture Units

144

128

ROPs

32

Base Clock

1257 MHz

1168 MHz

1168 MHz

Boost Clock

1340 MHz

1284 MHz

1244 MHz

Memory Clock

8Gbps GDDR5

7Gbps GDDR5

Memory Bus Width

256-bit

VRAM

4 GB or 8 GB

Transistor Count

5.7 billion

Typical Board Power

185 W

150 W

Manufacturing Process

GloFo 14nm

Architecture

GCN 4

GPU

Polaris 10

Launch Date

4/18/2017

10/15/2018

4/18/2017

Launch Price

$199 - $229

?

$169

This is not the first time when AMD revises specs of its already launched products. Last year the company let partners to sell Radeon RX 560 products with 896 stream processors, down from 1024 SPs inside the original GPU. Back then the company explained that graphics processors with lowered specs enable its partners to sell more graphics cards and offer a better choice to their customers. At the time the Radeon RX 560D with 896 SPs was an entirely new product sitting above the Radeon RX550 - this time however the Radeon RX 580 2048 SPs is essentially the Radeon RX 570 with slightly higher boost clocks.